Team ADAR(M)
by my black crimson rose
Summary: This wasn't supposed to happen. He should've been partnered with Blake where they could continue their epic Adam&Blake partnership. Instead he was stuck with a human and two idiotic Faunus' with overly large weapons. [Prompt: Beacon AU where Adam and Blake are going to Beacon together.]
1. Chapter 1

He wasn't going to let her walk away just like that. Not without him. They were partners, and even though she left that doesn't change a damn thing. He was going to go to Beacon; he'd _be there_ for _her_. The world could burn for all he cared as long as nothing touched her, he'd be fine.

"Blake left and I'm going after her," he turned to his superior. His boss looked as if he'd argue with Adam, "you've been saying how we needed an informant on the inside. I'm you're best guy and I'm young enough to get into Beacon." He shifted his weigh, arms raising ever the slightest. He was challenging his superior.

The man's teeth clicked together in aggravation, "give me your mask we can't have you ruining your cover." Adam huffed out a laugh and peeled the mask from his face. He blinked, getting used to the sudden change as he handed his mask over. "Now get to work," his boss hissed taking the mask and turning sharply.

Adam stood at the back of the auditorium, watching Blake and _her team_. He wasn't even in the same class as her. He couldn't partner up with her again. _This was a waste of time_, he thought with a frown. He wasn't looking forward to his own initiation—being stuck with people that he wanted nothing to do with for the remainder of his years here.

Humans would look at him with contempt, and would size him up. Adam would smile that predatory smile of his and tilt his body challenging. He was always challenging; that's how he made it. That's how he survived the streets, and the starvation. That's how he survived being alone for all those years until Blake. Until he took a stray under his protection and gave her fight back, and she in return gave him a reason to live.

That's why he wanted this. He needed to keep her alive, to keep her safe. She was his reason; she was his light.

He should listen to what's being said, but he didn't. Couldn't bring himself to care enough to. He came to Beacon for her and yet here he was, without her still and on his own. Always on his own. He was launched then, effectively cutting him from his thoughts. In the seconds were he flew, the sounds of students hollering around him solidified his resolve.

Blake was here, he was here.

He didn't need to be on the same team, they were still partners. They still had a connection, something that her and her new teammates would never have. He saved her, fed her, raised her, and loved her—loves her. If she really wanted to break all ties she would've, she wouldn't have left like that. That open ended goodbye that sounded more like a, "see you later" then final.

Until the time he would reunite with her he'd be a normal student. Attend classes, join a team. Watch, wait, and listen. He'd do what he was told and infiltrate Beacon, act like a _normal student_ and _make friends_.

A normal student. Adam didn't even know how to be a normal student. He was driving towards the trees, the thrill of falling jolting him out of his thoughts to finally concentrate. He had a job to do after all.

His shoulder hit the ground as he rolled onto his feet, the momentum rocking him forward as his feet moved. He slowed down to a light jog, then a halt. He glanced around the area of woods that he found himself in. There was a crash a little ways away from him, and someone yelped loudly. Clearly screwing up their landing.

A canon went off over his head, and he snapped his head up to see a girl colliding mid-air with a boy with a joyous cry of, "brother!" The extent that some people would go to just to be teamed up with someone. Adam huffed, _hypocrite, _his mind couldn't help but supply as he walked off into a random direction. The girl's canon went off again, the sound alerting him just were he _didn't_ want to be.

Keep him away from crazy chicks and giant guns.

Everything was going fine for Adam. He hadn't run into any Grimm, or any students for the matter. His gut wasn't telling him that trouble was near. Everything was fine… until it wasn't.

"Fuck," Adam hissed at the human. He stood half an inch shorter than him and built like an ox, arms covered in shiny metal armor. He should've followed the canons. Anything else but a human partner! Adam scowled at the male, and cursed again.

"I take it I'm not your first choice," the brunette smirked, raising an eye brow at the other male.

Adam huffed, as stupid he thought this was there wasn't any point in kicking up a fuss. "Your kind isn't my _first choice_," he replied turning away from the other.

The brunette chuckled, "so you're _that_ type of Faunus. One of the ones that hates humans." The teen hooked a thumb in his belt loop as he followed Adam at his own pace.

Adam rolled his shoulders and turned back to look at his _partner_. "You don't know—" he brown haired boy chuckled, cutting Adam off.

"You're right, I don't know fuck all about what a Faunus has go through. I'm a kid that grew up in a small town with only humans. And I don't expect you to trust me enough to open up," he tsked. Light blue eyes rolling at something that he just thought about. "But you're stuck with me now, so how about the two of us play nice? I'll start. Hey, I'm Derek Smith. I'm a close-range combatant." Derek wiggled his fingers, the metal clinking as it moved. "These are my weapons, Maple and Charcoal."

"Adam Taurus," Adam nodded and lifted his weapon, "I prefer to fight in mid to short range combat." He turned away from the human than, signalling the end of their conversation. Derek merely shook his head and huffed at the bull Faunus. The pair continued to walk in silence; not meeting a fellow student or monster.

Derek groaned flopping to the ground, "this is so fucking lame. I want to hit something!" He rocked back on his back, using the momentum to launch himself onto his feet. "We're already here, and there's nothing. No people, no monsters."

Adam cracked his neck; he had to agree with his partner. This was ridiculous. Weren't these woods full of Grimm? His finger was itching to pull the trigger, to vent his frustrations out, to kill something. Maybe it was the _beast_ in him that called out for blood and sang for murder. A girlish laughter rang through the air as her partner and she came running into the clearing and towards Adam and Derek. "We found him!" the male grinned.

Why was he shirtless?

And was that a giant cross that that girl just dropped?

Derek raised his brow at the twins, their blonde hair feather like that darkened to a near black at the tips. The male grinned at him, winking and tilting his head up in a _how you doing_ fashion. The brunette couldn't fight the blush down quick enough. "Did you guys choose your piece?" The two males didn't reply.

The twins tackled Derek, the lesser of the two evils and dragged him over to statues, "let's be on the same team!" The twins grinned as they held on to Derek with a grip he didn't expect the two smaller teens to possess.

"I'd rather not," Derek replied trying to throw a look at his partner who stood off to the side with a smug look on his face. Adam waved him off, turning his attention from the three to the treeline. Still unsettled by how Derek and he hadn't been attack by anything on their way here. "You alright with the Rook piece?" his partner shouted.

Adam glanced over to the trio in Derek's hand he held the black Rook. "Sounds fine," he replied, and the twins let out a quick whoop and grabbed theRook opposite to theirs. At least they weren't climbing all over him, Adam mussed.

They had left the clearing quickly, just as a feeling in Adam's gut grew foul. The others felt it too and hurried their steps. "I'm Axis Rogers and this is my sister Maria. We're Faunus," Axis grinned walking backwards in front of them. He had sun kissed skin, and dark grey eyes. The pairing of Derek and Adam quickly learned that while they were energetic, it was Axis that was the one that talked the most and had the most amount of pent up energy to burn. "And, well you're one too."

Maria snickered, "you also looked like you could handle yourself in a fight, with all those muscles." She gestured to Adam's covered chest before taking in the human beside her. "But then there's you, you clearly have more muscles. Just look at those," she stuck the cross into the ground and raised her hands up to his pectorals. She snickered, "honk!" she exclaimed squeezing them. Derek's reaction was immediate as his metal covered fist connected with the girl's face and sent her flying.

"Please don't sexually harass me," he voiced mostly directed to the brother now. Axis eyes darkened and a grin broke out over his features. These twins had some serious problems in the head—they had to. Maybe they were dropped on their heads as children one too many times?

"Oh my god, that was hot." Maria stumbled out of the bush cuts and bruises healing quickly, her expression matching her brother's. "I've never been more turned on in my life," Maria added leaning heavily against the tree her grin growing dreamy.

Derek shuttered.

The ground rumbled with him.

Adam turned to them, "move! Now! Move, move, move!" He gripped the back on Derek neck, spurring him forward as Axis threw Maria's cross at his sister and ran too. A piercing yowl rattled their bones, a loud booming screech following it. The ground rumbled again, as they charged into a clearly.

Axis pulled the contraption from his back and thrust it forward and halted just as quickly. The movement opening the weapon into a large bow nearly the same size as the snake Faunus. The four stood back to back and readied their weapons. "Axis and I specialize in long and mid distance combat," Maria muttered to her team mates as she stuck her cross into the ground her hand resting on one of the arms.

Derek and Adam turned to regard them in a new light—this could work.

Three giant boarbatusks tore through the tree line, their shrikes nearly drowning out the rumbling the their hooves made as they tore towards them. The boaratusks stood at least two people high covered in heavy armor. Maria flipped her weapon onto her shoulder as she took a knee, the cross breaking apart and expanding as she rested it on her shoulder.

Axis drew an arrow made of aura back and let loose, it soared through the air and connected. The boarbatusk at the head of their formation shook it off. "The plates are too closed together," he hissed out. Maria grinned, her weapon was ready and expanded in this form. She fired. One explosive round after the other. This is what Adam had heard at the beginning.

The Grimms charged though the smoke and Maria hissed out a curse, throwing her weapon from her shoulder and made it change shape yet again. This time it took on a tripod like appearance, with a machine gun nozzle. "Eat this," she grinned and began firing again in volleys.

"Well I have to say I'm a little afraid of her now," Derek mumbled to his partner. Adam chuckled shaking his head and the other's confession.

"They're breaking apart!" Axis shouted firing off another arrow at the boar that spun to their right. Another shape came charging into the clearing and Derek's fists clenching in preparation. The Grimm moved with elegance in a quick, sharp, and deliberate fashion.

"What the hell is that thing?" Derek voiced, his eyes tracking the Grimm's movements. Adam's eyes narrowed onto the beast as well—he didn't know himself. It looked like a giant jaguar. How it moved, from the bounce in its step to the roll of its shoulders. Yeah, it was a type of cat—Adam's never heard of a Grimm like this.

"Axis, I want you to fire a shot at that thing," Adam gestured to the Grimm that was prowling around the forest. It would run towards them before changing tactics and running parallel to them. It was gauging how the group would act. It showed intelligence, and that didn't sit right with Adam.

Axis turned from the enemy in which he was engaging to fire at the unidentified Grimm. The feline bounced back and it hit the ground right in front of it. "Shit," Axis cursed firing another at the feline.

Maria's head whipped to the left, "Adam!" she shouted and the red head caught what she was concerned with. The boarbatusk was spinning towards Maria and him. Maria wouldn't be able to move quick enough, or face a loss in their position and her cover fire. Adam pulled his sword from the sheath and broke their formation.

The boarbatusk couldn't breech it.

The unidentified Grimm charged the group just as Adam's sword lashed forward quickly. Once, twice, and thrice Adam had cut. The boar's body uncurled with a whine coming from the dead beast and it began to smoke. Axis had yelped loudly jumping back and out of the way as the beast's claw drove forwards. Derek's right gauntlet glowed, the arm markings glowed a dark brown as he slammed a closed fist against the beast's mask.

The feline Grimm slammed into the ground, the mask covering its skull cracked and the ground shook. "I got this go help your sister," Derek hissed to the blonde male. The brunette huffed out a grunt as he threw the cat away from him. It whined as it hit the ground, and rolled back onto its feet. The Grimm shook its head, slinking back to circle round.

Adam sheathed his sword quickly. "What other forms does that weapon have?" he directed his comment to the lone female. Maria grinned kicking the legs out from under the weapon and it began to transform again. "Axis, focus on providing Derek with some cover fire. We don't know anything about that Grimm," Axis saluted the red head and lifted his bow into firing position. "Derek have fun with that one," Adam called out to his partner.

"Will do Captain!" Derek called back, slamming his glowing gauntlet into the ground and the earth broke apart and spiked upwards in a line that went four meters away from the initial impact zone. The feline jumped out of the way and into an arrow that took a junk off fur off its hide. It growled in a mixture of rage and pain and it tore towards the two males.

Adam turned back to the boars as Maria's weapon clicked into a sword. The center column of the sword glowing blue from the dust, "freeze them just before they curl up." Maria gripped the sword and drove it into the ground, triggering the blue dust and spikes of ice jutted out of the ground and towards the closest boarbatusk, the smallest of the three and an ice spike caught it in the tender area of its throat.

It squealed and more ice stabbed upwards into its neck and underbelly. It squirmed, digging the spikes deeper into its body. It was stuck. It whined, smoking pooling out of its mouth. Maria clenched her jaw and twisted her weapon in the ground, and one of the columns of ice drove further upwards and finally killing it. "I used all my ice dust," Maria pouted, frowning down at the clear center piece of her sword. The ground rumbled to their right and Adam gripped the back of the girl's shirt, tossing her out of the way. He took the blunt impact, sending him tumbling a ways away. "Adam!" the girl cried out.

His joins cracked as he slowly stood, dusting himself off. This was his favourite jacket. The bull Faunus watched the boarbatusk circle back around. He chuckled to himself, now that his _team mates _where out of his way he could finally let loose some frustrations.

When the beast turned towards him its body spinning quickly Adam sliced forward with his sword, the attack ricocheting off of the beast and carved up the ground close to Maria. He swiped again, and again. A piece of the beast's tusk flew off, along with a junk of fur and armor. So he had hit the underbelly of the beast with the first cut. He smirked, hands clenching the grip as he waited for the beast to close in.

The ground rumbled underfoot and yet Adam still waited.

Now.

Adam swiped from left to right, and the boar's head disconnected. The body continued rolling—he couldn't help but tilt his head up smugly as he stepped aside, watching the body of the beast roll past him limply the momentum of its attack carrying it forward.

Adam checked his blade, spotless. He sheathed it again.

"Just die already! For fucks sake!" Derek yelled at the beast ducking and rolling out of the way as it pounced at him. Axis let loose another arrow, this one larger than the others. It took off a layer of flesh from the beast's hide, blood dripping into its fur. The Grimm snarled, its tail whipping around and catching the blonde across the chest. Adam heard the tell-tale signs of Maria's weapon changing shaping. She began to open fire on the beast, explosive rounds after the other. Until the weapon clicked and she shouted out enraged. She was out of dust.

Adam ran to join his partner, "we need to get it into a position that it can't slink away when it's injured," Adam voiced to the human.

"I might be able to get it off the ground, but I can't guaranteed that I can throw it as high as I could have," he brought his hand away from his shoulder. The blood flow slowing to a stop as his aura healed it.

"Maria!" Adam called back to the girl. "How much dust do you have left?" His eyes never leaving the Grimm that circled them near the tree line, a limp in its step. It would attack soon. Its tail flicking back and forth in aggravation.

"I got nothing left," she called back patting her pockets down. "Not a thing," she added her left hand held out with fingers spread. Adam sighed heavily, grabbing a vial of explosive rounds from the inner pocket of his jacket. He tossed them at her.

"On my signal I need you to fire those upwards."

"Up?" her face wrinkled in confusion as she loaded the rounds.

He didn't reply only gripping the hilt of his sword, "Axis you need to start firing at it, make it charge us." A breeze began to form. Adam directed his aura to the surface, to his very pours. Feeling the power course through his very being, the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears drowned out Axis and the Grimm. He felt lighter and heavier. He felt powerful.

A grunt of exertion coming from Derek snapped him out of his daze, "Maria now!" He shouted, holding onto his trigger. Nearly there. Just shy. Just a little more. Maria's weapon boomed, firing off three rounds. They exploded, pushing the Grimm into the air. Up and up and up.

And that's when he felt it. That click in the back of his mind that felt like it was opening the gate of the beast that he hid within him. Blake had mentioned that his trigger made the red on him shine brightly, he never thought about it until now. Maybe it really was the beast within him that he let loose with this attack, to let loose the blood lust that at times drove him.

He clenched his jaw and slashed upward, the energy surging forwards. It looked like rose petals were flying… falling. It looked like blood spraying as the feline Grimm dropped in pieces. The petals blowing away in the breeze.

Where they really blood?

His team laughed breathlessly around him, the twins yelling out their victory. Axis brought his sister into his arms and twirled her around. This was their first battle as a team. Derek punched Adam's arm gently, "nice job Captain," he grinned playfully. Adam huffed, the blood still pounding in his ears from his trigger.

Everything in that field that Adam saw was red; it could just be his sight… could be a memory of something else. He blinked, the twins laughing loudly as they threw themselves at Derek and he. Their arms wrapping around him and dragging them into this clustered mess. He didn't have the energy to fight them off. And neither did Derek who hissed out a, "watch the shoulder" when Axis jostled him too harshly.

The loudness didn't stop there.

It only grew louder when Ozpin announced the teams. "Adam Taurus, Derek Smith, Axis Rogers, and Maria Rogers," he had started. Adam turned his attention to the crowd, Blake's eyes widened upon seeing him. His lips pulling up ever the slightest at the sight of her, even if she wore that ridiculous bow. "This day forward the four of you will work together as Team… ADAR," Adam looked away from Blake at that.

What the hell kind of team name was that?

"Maria wants me to tell you that she's calling us Team Adam," Derek whispered beside him.

Adam shook his head, almost fondly. These idiots would be the death of him. "Lead by Adam Taurus," Ozpin finished. Maria and Axis through their hands up at that both saying that they had predicted it. Derek's fist bumped against Adam's arm again, lightly, with a large smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam wasn't exactly friendly; he would play nice with fellow Faunus though. They had to sick together, in a city… in a world so over run by humans they had to band together at times. So when the brown haired human, Cardin Winchester, began tugging on the rabbit Faunus' ear Adam stood from the table pushing his chair away from the table. "Where are you off to?" Derek inquired from the opposite side of the table his back was facing the bully and rabbit Faunus, on either side of the human sat the twins.

He didn't break his pace from a quick walk; he didn't want someone bringing attention to him. "Ow stop Cardin that hurts. Please stop," the brown haired Faunus whined trying to pull her ear from his grasp in the least painful way possible. Adam grabbed the boy's wrist and slammed the bully's head against the table, holding him there with an arm pressing against the back of his neck.

The bully's hold loosened and the Faunus rubbed her now freed ear. "Think it's funny to mess with Faunus'?" Adam growled out through his teeth. Team CRDL sat there shocked looked between their leader whose face was pressed harshly against the table and the red and brown haired Faunus who held him there. The cafeteria grew quiet, out of the corner of his eye he saw Derek standing on the opposite side of the table. Providing him with backup if Cardin's team decided to try anything—just in case.

He didn't know if he should be annoyed or proud of his teammate.

"Adam!" her voice shouted from behind him, and he turned to look. She had stood from the table, approaching him turning the commotion much to her team's surprise. Her hand pressed against his back, "don't cause any more of a scene then you already are," she whispered her yellow eyes wide as she gestured to everyone staring in the room. Adam didn't move. "He's not worth the trouble, Red," she finally whispered. Using his nickname that she had used to call him years ago; he had nearly forgotten about it. It's been just that long since she had said it last.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest as he let him go, backing up into her hand and arm. Her fingers clutching the back of his school jacket just in case he decided to go back and hurt the bully. Even if she thought he deserved a good kick in the ass, he wasn't worth getting in trouble over.

Derek rounded the table; standing beside his teammate and following the two as Blake lead him away. "I like to see you try that shit when your girlfriend isn't around to save you!" the boy shouted at them. Adam's body immediately tensed up as he went to turn to the boy.

"I don't know who you think you are, kid, but I can guarantee that if you don't close your mouth and start smartening the fuck up right now _I will_ ensure that you do," Derek voiced beating his leader to it. Derek crossed his arms over his muscled chest, the fabric of the school jacket tightening over his muscles. Derek wasn't the type of guy that liked to pick fights with others in school. He was what everyone called a lover when they would say that saying, "You're a lover not a fighter" or "make love not war". Monsters were different; they were a threat to that _peace and love_ stuff that he stood for.

Ugh, that sounded so weak.

But that's what Derek stood for, and he would die for that cause. Kill for it even. And even though this kid was just some kid who thought he was tough shit, he wasn't one to stand quietly by when someone was in trouble.

Of course the twins didn't really count in his whole "gotta be gentle with you or I may just break you." Axis and Maria would poke and prod and annoy him to the point that he would either throw them onto the nearest soft surface (because he cared enough about them to be careful), pick them up and forcibly move them away from his person, or that rare time that he would hit one of them. He only hit Axis now, he felt very uncomfortable when Maria would bring up how he had punched her. He didn't hit girls, and he had apologized every time she mentioned it with that same grin and hooded eyes. It didn't help his case when the two devil twins would lean over in his ear and say all those _things_; "it made my lady parts all hot" was the one that even Adam shuttered about.

Cardin leaned away from the finger that Derek pointed at him, looking insulted that someone was speaking like that to him. But he didn't voice it—finally, the kid was starting to understand that being a dick would get him nowhere nice with Adam and he. Derek huffed though, rolling his eyes as he turned and helped the black haired drag his leader back to their table.

When he passed the table that held team RWBY and JNPR Derek had heard one girl lean over to whisper to the blonde haired boy, "We could always get those two to kick the shit out of him too… if you don't want us to break his legs." So that boy was causing trouble with more people than just that one Faunus girl.

Blake turned from them once they had reached the table that team ADAR(M) had commandeered. She bid them a quick farewell and left just as quickly. "Ex-girlfriend?" Axis questioned around a mouthful of food. Derek grimaced returning to his seat between the twins. He used to try to pick up his stuff and move to the other side of the table, but they had followed him each time. Now he just accepted his fate of being sandwiched between two annoying blondes.

"Old partner," Adam replied with a frown, his gaze glued to the black haired girl across the room. He should sit with her soon, screw this avoiding each other and pretending the other wasn't there when she was with her team. He was getting sick of it.

Maria leaned forward, her fork standing straight up in the heap of her food. "Like, partner—" she gestured to all four of them, "—or _partner_" she crossed her middle and forefinger with a wiggle of her brow.

Adam barred his teeth at the snake Faunus, "I told you our relationship wasn't like that!" He had hissed out quietly, grabbing the bottle of water violently.

Axis grinned, "Ooh a relationship is it?" he snickered. Derek punched him in the shoulder, silencing him. Axis pouted at the brunette briefly, before a twinkle of mischief appeared in his eyes. "If you wanted to kiss me so badly, you didn't have to ask!" he exclaimed wrapping his arm around the brunette's neck and smooshing their lips together.

Maria squawked, quickly pulling her brother off Derek. "That's no fair!" she exclaimed shaking her twin. Beside them Derek sat in shock, fingers touching his lips gently and a deep red flush creeping from his neck to his ears and to his cheeks.

Nothing news worthy happened in Team ADAR(M)'s day to day life. Everything was going by normally; the twins were hitting on Derek, Derek was avoiding Axis a little more since that day, and Adam was… Adam was watching… and waiting. He was trying to be a normal student. He wasn't approaching Blake; every time he tried she would give him one of her _looks_. One of the ones that made him grind his teeth and turn around.

One day he should just keep walking towards her, screw what her team thinks.

Everything was going fine until Blake disappeared. Everyone had heard about it; Team RWBY made sure of that. _Do you know where Blake went?_ This and _Have you seen Blake?_ That. They've asked the twins these things early in the weekend, and both said that they had no idea and that they should come back to the dorm and ask Adam.

A day later and here they were.

He had just come back to the dorm from the showers, a towel around his shoulders and a clean pair of pants covering his legs. He didn't grab a shirt; have you tried putting a shirt on when you were still wet and in a humid place? It was bad enough that he had to put boxers and pants on it that atmosphere. The three girls were standing in the middle of the dorm room, the twins dangling off of Derek as he tried to gather information from the three girls.

"Adam," Derek sighed in relief finally beginning to remove the leeches that they liked to refer to as Axis and Maria Rogers. The mentioned male paused in the doorway as everyone looked up at him. Yang looked him over, from feet to horns and nodded thoughtfully.

"Not bad. I approve," she hummed crossing her arms over her chest. Her younger sister hissed her name, something along the lines of _we're not here to ogle Blake's boyfriend_ coming from her mouth. "Yesh fine. I get it. I get it!" The blonde sighed, taking on the role of leader in the Blake hunt/inquiry, "do you know where Blake might be?"

Adam chuckled throwing the towel from his shoulders at Maria to stop her from pouting any further. He pulled a tank top from his dresser, not feeling like buttoning up a shirt this moment. The shirt matching the red in his hair. He threw a black sweater over top, zipping it up quickly and grabbing his keys from their hiding spot. If he was right and Blake was where he thought she was, he didn't want to go out in his typical jacket without his weapons or his mask.

The jacket was his signature (other than the mask of course), he'd much rather not be attacked on the streets today.

"Yeah, I know where she is."


End file.
